Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what evidence there is that lockdowns reduce the transmission of covid-19.

The success of restrictions rests on them reducing the number of contacts between infected and susceptible individuals within the population, thereby reducing the number of infections. Mobility and payment data in April 2020, November 2020 and in recent days show substantial declines in the number of contacts leading to lower numbers of COVID-19 infections in spring last year and in the second half of November 2020. The Office for National Statistics’ COVID-19 Infection Survey shows that prevalence has recently fallen from its late-December peaks. The lagged fall in hospitalisations and deaths provides good evidence of a causal link between lockdowns and reduction in transmission of the virus.